Temporary 'freezes' 10.3.2

jhawcroft

jhawcroft

Registered
My dad's Blue&White Power Mac G3 has 10.3.2 installed and every minute or so, stops responding. The mouse keeps moving, but you can't click or type anything and all running programs seem to stop. This lasts a few seconds, then everything returns to normal and the cycle repeats...

So far I tried repairing permissions. That worked for about 3 days, now it's happening again.

Any ideas/suggestions? Are their some cache files / maintenance tasks I could try running?

thanks!
Josh
 
dktrickey said:
Try disconnecting the B & W from the network.
Click to expand...

No immediate effect, even after rebooting.

I checked the CPU & memory usage in activity monitor. Memory is normal. CPU shoots up to 94% system during the freeze (it only appears when the freeze ends - everything except the mouse is frozen). The freeze was occurring at fairly regular intervals, and about 3 seconds long.

So I guessed maybe it was some kernel-level device driver hogging all the CPU. Dad has a USB hub with a printer connected. I pulled out the printer and things seem to have returned to normal. Plugged it back in, everything still normal?!

Weird...
 
It may not be the printer -- it may be, in fact, the USB hub. Try connecting the printer directly to the computer instead of going through the hub. Also, make sure that the keyboard is plugged directly into the computer, and the mouse connected to the keyboard. Strange things happen when you connect keyboard/mice through hubs.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
It may not be the printer -- it may be, in fact, the USB hub. Try connecting the printer directly to the computer instead of going through the hub. Also, make sure that the keyboard is plugged directly into the computer, and the mouse connected to the keyboard. Strange things happen when you connect keyboard/mice through hubs.
Click to expand...

Okay. The keyboard and mouse are connected by an extension lead (I doubt that would be problem? it's been there for ages).

Problem now is that it isn't freezing anymore, and I haven't changed anything. Is the hub likely to be faulty, or is this just a problem with using USB hubs and OS X?
 
I've had the exact same problem in 10.3.3 with QuickTime 6.5 when playing AIFF files. I now have to play them in iTunes. After 10 seconds of playing or so the entire system just freezes up, mouse moves but nothing responds, and then it unfreezes after a few seconds. VERY annoying.
 
It's a problem with OS X and USB hubs in general -- some tend to be flakey when used.

I can make a suggestion, though -- I have a Belkin 4-port powered hub that works flawlessly. What kind of hub are you using?
 
His hub may be the problem or whatever, but I don't understand, considering all I have connected to my iMac is the keyboard, mouse and Pro speakers.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
I can make a suggestion, though -- I have a Belkin 4-port powered hub that works flawlessly. What kind of hub are you using?
Click to expand...

The USB hub is a Micra-Digital min 4-port hub (green plastic model) PUSB4GRN.

Veljo said:
His hub may be the problem or whatever, but I don't understand, considering all I have connected to my iMac is the keyboard, mouse and Pro speakers.
Click to expand...

That is odd. Maybe it means the USB hub isn't necessarily the only problem. The problem has occurred twice so far, but unfortunately hasn't happened again so I can't figure out what's causing it. :P

I'll get the 10.3.3 upgrade on this weekend, so hopefully that'll help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top